Morning & Evening – June 14, 2026 | Spurgeon Devotional

Morning

Scripture

Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

— Psalm 37:4 (ESV)

Devotional

The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than “holiness” and “delight.” But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.

Reflection

Spurgeon here takes a verse that sounds almost shocking to the natural mind: “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” For those outside vital godliness, religion feels like a heavy obligation or a means to an end. Holiness and delight seem like opposites. Yet Spurgeon insists that for the true believer, delight in God is not an optional extra or a rare emotional high—it is the very description of the Christian life. The ways of the Lord are ways of pleasantness, and His paths are peace. The believer does not serve God out of compulsion or custom but because piety itself has become pleasure. Faith and delight are so united that nothing can separate them.

What many miss is that this delight is not manufactured by trying harder to feel happy about God. It flows from knowing Christ. When the heart has tasted His love, joy grows divinely. The root of true religion produces the flower of delight as naturally as a healthy plant blooms. Spurgeon is not calling us to pretend or to chase experiences; he is describing what is already true for those who truly know the Lord. The world cannot understand this because it has never tasted it. The believer, however, discovers that following Christ is not a burden laid upon the back but a fountain of joy rising from within.

Goad

Am I thus finding my piety to be my pleasure and my duty my delight, or has my walk with God quietly become more about custom, necessity, or keeping up appearances? What would it look like for delight in the Lord to be the root rather than a rare flower I occasionally notice?

Evening

Scripture

O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

— Daniel 9:8 (ESV)

Devotional

A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment which it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who is there, although he may long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, that will not blush when he looks back upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerated, may they be forgiven and forgotten; but since then, though we have not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against light and against love—light which has really penetrated our minds, and love in which we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God’s own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus’ bosom. Look at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter’s denying his Master. Remember, it is written, “He wept bitterly.” Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Alas! these sins of ours, before and after conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning. My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. Admire the grace which saves thee—the mercy which spares thee—the love which pardons thee!

Reflection

Spurgeon’s evening reading does not soften the reality of sin in the life of a believer. On the contrary, he argues that the sin of a pardoned Christian is in some ways more heinous than the sin of one who has never known Christ. We have sinned against light and against love. We have tasted communion with Jesus and then turned away in thought, word, or deed. This should produce not despair but a deep, honest lying low before the throne—a “confusion of face” that drives us to our knees.

At the same time, this sense of sin is meant to make us admire grace all the more. The same passage that exposes how cheaply an unpardoned sinner sins compared with a child of God also magnifies the sovereign mercy that has made us to differ. David’s broken bones and Peter’s bitter tears are not held up to shame us into silence but to call us to the same spirit of penitence. The goal is not morbid introspection but humble worship: bowing down under the sense of our sinfulness and then lifting our eyes to worship the God whose grace saves, whose mercy spares, and whose love pardons.

Goad

Am I thus lying low before the throne with a clear sight of my own sin—even the sins committed as a Christian against light and love—or have I grown comfortable with a shallow sense of my need? What does genuine penitence look like in my life right now, and does it lead me to admire the grace that has snatched me like a brand from the burning?

Tie-In

The morning call to delight in the Lord and the evening call to lie low in honest confession of sin are not in tension; they are two sides of the same life in Christ. Jonathan Edwards, in his work on the Religious Affections, argued that true religion consists much in holy affections—delight in God being chief among them—yet these affections are always accompanied by a deep sense of sin and humility. The believer who truly delights in the Lord will also be the one most ready to blush at how far short he falls. This daily rhythm of joy and repentance is foundational “Milk,” but it also feeds the deeper “Solid Food” and “Meat” of communion with God and the mortification of remaining sin. Those hungry for more are invited to explore the fuller tables of teaching on the site.

Closing

Spurgeon’s classic text with AI-assisted reflection and formatting to maintain daily consistency and reach.

If these words have stirred something in your heart today, we invite you to sit with it. Share how God met you in the comments or reach out to us.

As we build out the deeper tables of Milk, Solid Food, and Meat for every stage of the journey, know that you are welcome here.

NewGrapes Ministries
Making disciples, not pew-fillers.
Soli Deo Gloria.